Checklist Manifesto

Jon Stewart had author and surgeon Atul Gawande on The Daily Show last night to talk about his new book, “The Checklist Manifesto – How to Get Things Right.” Gawande and his team created a checklist they used before starting surgery. Gawande says “Why in the world would you need to write a book about checklists of all things? We are in a situation were the volume and complexity of what we handle has skyrocketed.”

The checklist has so far saved thousands of lives, but it’s been difficult to get it implemented. So far it’s only used in 20% of hospitals because surgeons often feel that they shouldn’t have to resort to a checklist. They feel it makes their ability unnecessary and undermines their credibility. Yet 93% of surgeons reported that they would want the checklist used if they were undergoing surgery themselves.